One of the four giraffes that the state seized from the Natural Bridge Zoo died while being transported to Georgia in May, and the circumstances surrounding its death are now part of a criminal investigation.
Based on a timeline released by the Virginia attorney general’s office, the focus appears to be the nature of medicine that the zoo administered to the giraffe before the state transported it to a safari park in Georgia.
The attorney general’s office said it intended to release the information about the giraffe’s death once a toxicology report is available. However, the attorney general’s office confirmed the death after Cardinal News asked about chatter on social media that suggested the giraffe might be dead.
The female giraffe known as Valentine was removed from the zoo on May 22 and loaded onto a trailer bound for the Georgia Safari Conservation Park. Shaun Kenney, a spokesman for Attorney General Jason Miyares, said, “The team transporting the giraffes would routinely stop as they moved across state lines. Valentine showed no sign of distress or discomfort moving into South Carolina and was discovered to be deceased as they crossed into Georgia.”
A preliminary necropsy by the University of Georgia has ruled out stress from the move, according to the attorney general’s office. A toxicology test, conducted by Michigan State University, has yet to arrive. Kenney declined to release the preliminary necropsy because it’s part of the criminal investigation.
The giraffe’s death seems certain to fuel more controversy over both conditions at the zoo and the state’s seizure of its animals. Over the past year and a half, the case has produced two trials over custody of the animals. Last month saw two members of the family that has owned the zoo given suspended jail sentences for trying to obstruct court orders and the revelation that a criminal investigation is underway over two baby giraffes that are missing and which the state contends are state property. A contempt of court charge against one family member is still pending. The attorney general’s office said the original criminal investigation into the whereabouts of the baby giraffes has now expanded to include the death of Valentine.
The saga began in December 2023 when the attorney general’s animal law unit oversaw a raid that confiscated animals amid allegations of cruelty and animal abuse. The state laid legal claim to the zoo’s four giraffes but left them at the facility because there was no way to move them.
After a six-day trial in March 2024, a Rockbridge County jury awarded the state custody of 71 animals, including the four giraffes, while returning 29 others to the zoo because there was insufficient evidence of abuse.
The state said it had trouble finding someone to move the giraffes because Karl Mogensen, patriarch of the family that has owned the zoo, threatened giraffe movers with violence.
In October 2024, the state moved the first of the giraffes, a male named Jeffrey, to the Georgia park. However, the zoo appealed to the Court of Appeals, which put further moves on hold for about a month. By the time the appellate court lifted its stay, the weather was too cold to move the remaining three giraffes, according to court testimony. Also, two of the giraffes were pregnant. The attorney general’s office later filed contempt charges about Karl Mogensen and his daughter, Gretchen, alleging that they tried to interfere with the process of moving the giraffes. They were both found guilty and given suspended jail sentences as well as fines; a second contempt charge against Gretchen Mogensen is still pending.
The giraffes remained at the Natural Bridge Zoo, with the attorney general’s office conducting random inspections. On one such inspection, on April 8, 2025, the two females were found to no longer be pregnant — and no baby giraffes were found. The attorney general’s office contends that the baby giraffes are state property; lawyers for the Mogensens have suggested that since the court never ruled the unborn giraffes would become state property, the matter is undecided. That point has yet to be argued in court, but could be during a scheduled hearing in September to take up a contempt charge against Gretchen Mogensen for not disclosing the location of the missing baby giraffes. In the meantime, the attorney general’s office acknowledged in July that a criminal investigation is now underway over the missing baby giraffes. Kenney, the attorney general’s spokesman, said he could not disclose details about that investigation other than to say “we’re looking.”
The three female giraffes that remained at the zoo were moved, one at a time, in late May. Little Girl was moved on May 20.
The next day, an attorney for the zoo’s owner notified the state that it would “no longer provide care, boarding or support for the giraffes” starting on May 22. The letter demanded that the state pay what it owed for their upkeep up until that point before the other giraffes were moved and alleged “improper handling, neglect and inhumane treatment” during the removal of the first two giraffes. The attorney general’s office contends just the opposite, that the zoo owes the state money.
On May 22, the social media account for the Natural Bridge Zoo said that Valentine’s health was “rapidly declining.” The attorney general’s office said that on the morning of Valentine’s scheduled move, Gretchen Mogensen asked to speak to the two veterinarians and the investigator who were overseeing the transport. A report released by the attorney general’s office said: “Mogensen stated that Valentine had not been eating and was not acting normally and that ‘last night’ she gave ’10 cc of Banamine by polesyringe.’ Ms. Mogensen stated that this medication was given based on the recommendation of her veterinarian.”
Banamine is described by its maker, Merck Animal Health, as “the pioneer non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) approved for horses in the United States” and is intended for “horses with inflammation and pain associated with musculoskeletal injuries.”
The report from the attorney general’s office says, “Our veterinarians took this information and noted it while doing visual exams on Valentine, prior to loading her into the transport trailer.” They “saw no symptoms that would cause concern before she was loaded and concluded that the Natural Bridge Zoo lacked the facilities, staff, or cooperation that would allow for proper response if a medical emergency was occurring.” They examined Valentine again after she was loaded, the report says.
The giraffe seemed fine when transporters checked her after crossing into North Carolina and South Carolina, but when they checked in on Valentine after crossing the Georgia state line, she was dead.
Kenney said that after Valentine’s death, the veterinarians advising the attorney general’s office concluded that it was still safe to move Wrinkles, the final giraffe, because the risks of remaining at the zoo outweighed the risk of transport. Wrinkles’ move to Georgia on May 23 took place without incident, although she is currently being treated for hookworms contracted at the Natural Bridge Zoo, according to the attorney general’s office.
The University of Georgia oversaw a necropsy of Valentine.
“While the cause of death is currently unknown, the preliminary necropsy is not suggestive of trauma during transport causing her death,” said a statement from the attorney general’s office. “A comprehensive investigation remains ongoing, including looking into two injection sites of a drug apparently administered by Natural Bridge Zoo.”
That prompted the request for a toxicology report, which has not yet arrived. It might be three to four weeks before it is available, the attorney general’s office said.
Among the questions Valentine’s death prompts are these:
- If the stress of the move didn’t kill Valentine, what did?
- Why were there two injection sites? How many doses were given?
- Was Banamine the correct medicine to give her?
- Was Banamine really the drug that was administered? The attorney general’s office called attention to the findings of the initial search warrant at the zoo, which found that some of the medicines at the zoo had expired and that others “have handwritten labels or labels that are missing information.” A report accompanying that search warrant said “these observed facts justify searching and seizing these drugs to determine what they are, what animal/patient they were prescribed to, and whether they were possessed or prescribed illegally.”
The Wildlife Animal Sanctuary, a Colorado-based group that assisted in moving the giraffes, recently published an account of its participation but didn’t mention Valentine’s death. However, it says that “some crazy guy … fired a rifle numerous times in an effort to scare the giraffes.” It says state police “chased the guy down and dealt with this illegal behavior.” State police said they had no record of the incident; the attorney general’s office said the incident happened, but no one was charged.
Neither the Natural Bridge Zoo nor its attorneys replied to any questions.
